Let’s be clear.  Your

1.  Check your email inbox at set intervals. Do not have your email on and active in front of you all the time.  For most people it is better to check email no more than three or four times a day.  For example you could check email at 9 am, 12 noon and 4 pm.  Then you can spend the rest of the day doing useful work.

2.  Your do-do list is more important than your email. Write all the most important things you have to do each day on your to-do list and use that to prioritise your activities.  Focus on getting the top priorities completed each day and your performance will soar.

3.  Action emails immediately. When you read your inbox action each item immediately if at all possible.  You might reply, forward, delete or file.  Do not read through your inbox over and over.  Read once and action straight away.  If you cannot action an important email then flag it for follow up – in Outlook you right click on the message and then click – follow up today.  This will give the item a red flag and you can find it easily by clicking on the flag status column.

4.  Declutter your inbox. Eliminate unnecessary emails.  Flag junk as junk or use an external filter system such as ClearMyMail to stop junk.  Unsubscribe from any newsletters that you you do not read.

5.  Maintain your contact list. Your contact list is a valuable asset that rewards attention and maintenance.  In most cases when you receive an email from a new business contact then you should add them to your contacts immediately.  Years later you might want to contact them and it is important to have their details.  It is handy to sort your contacts into different categories – social, customer, supplier etc.   Take a back-up of your contact list separately from your main computer so that you still have it even if disaster strikes.

6.  Use folders sparingly. I have a few folders for really important categories of communication.  Everything else is deleted or stays in my inbox.  Some people have hundreds of folders and put everything into one or other.  If this works for you then fine but beware of folder creep.

7.  Sync your mobile and desktop worlds. Keep your messages and contacts synchronsied between your cellphone or pda and your computer.  It is great to use quiet time while travelling to read and send messages provided your important replies are captured for future reference.

Some people use social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook as their primarycommunications tool and they are great for short casual messages.  However, email remains the tool of choice for business communications.  Sharpen the tool and use it well.  It is an essential part of your everyday productivity.

This article was originally published on lifehack.org and written by Paul Slone

Just asking this question means you’re already on the right track. You can’t get to this point without having done several things right: Read more

This article was originally written by Tim Berry and published on entrepreneur.com

Thinking outside the box is mor

We’re told to “think outside the box” all the time, but how exactly do we do that? How do we develop the ability to confront problems in ways other than the ways we normally confront problems? How do we cultivate the ability to look at things differently from the way we typically look at things?

Thinking outside the box starts well before we’re “boxed in” – that is, well before we confront a unique situation and start forcing it into a familiar “box” that we already know how to deal with. Or at least think we know how to deal with.

Here are 11 ways to beef up your out-of-the-box thinking skills. Make an effort to push your thinking up to and beyond its limit every now and again – the talents you develop may come in handy the next time you face a situation that “everybody knows” how to solve. Read more

This article was originally published on lifehack.org and written by Dustin Wax

Lisa’s take on this is that it’s not that social media isn’t or can’t be useful; it’s just that it takes so much time. The solution? Time management. You need to know why you’re using social media and plan in advance where and how you’re going to engage.

Lisa’s post is full of tips for focusing your time and energy. Planning and scheduling are key, she says, and there are many tools that can help you avoid overload and stay organized such as “Tweetdeck, HootSuite or Seesmic to help you manage conversation and schedule tweets ahead of time” and “Google Alerts via either email or RSS to keep track of social media mentions.” Read more

This article was originally published on sbinfocanada.about.com and written by Susan Ward

Why Use A Wiki?

While there are certainly some great, feature-heavy and flexible project management tools out there, a good wiki (that’s set up well for the specific use) can compete with the best of them.

Some of the biggest benefits of using a wiki include:

Wikis are like a blank sheet of paper that you can fold, arrange and format in a way that suits you best. Most wikis, because they don’t have the structure of a project management tool, have a very low learning curve. Read more

This article was originally published on sitepoint.com and written by Alyssa Gregory

A recent study shows more small-business owners are contemplating doing just that — dipping into their own funds to keep their business going. The Discover Small Business Watch survey of 750 small-business owners found nearly two-thirds–61 percent–of owners thought it likely they would tap into personal assets to stay afloat within the next year.

Forty percent said it was “very likely” they would use their own cash, while another 21 percent said it was “somewhat likely.” These owners mostly don’t plan to hit up friends and family, either–67 percent said it was “not very likely,” or “not at all likely,” that they’d get more operating cash that way. Read more

This article was originally published on blog.entrepreneur.com and written by Carol Tice

These days it seems as if every corporation has tried its hand at blogging. The more corporate blogs that exist in the blogosphere, the more difficult it becomes to gain blog subscribers by creating one that’s truly unique. To ensure your corporate blog stands out from the crowd, follow these 5 tips:

1. Talk about something other than yourself. Too many corporate marketers make the mistake of creating blogs as purely another mechanism to talk about their products and services. While increased sales and improved brand visibility may be two fundamental goals of a corporate blog, there are more effective ways for achieving those goals that just pushing product.

The most successful corporate blogs leverage product and service information with relevant industry news, human interest pieces, case studies and other useful information. That balance is what keeps readers coming back time and again. Read more

This article was originally published on toprankblog.com and written by Michelle Bowles